The present invention relates to pipes, headers or like tubular bodies having a pipe joint member, for example, for use in connecting two pipes together in a T-shaped arrangement or in connecting a heat medium feed pipe or discharge pipe to the peripheral wall of the tubular header of a heat exchanger, and a method of producing the same.
The term "aluminum" as used herein includes pure aluminum and aluminum alloys.
For example, when two pipes are to be connected together in a T-shaped arrangement, a pipe joint member having an outward flange at an intermediate portion of its length is attached to the peripheral wall of one of the pipes in communication with the interior thereof, and the other pipe is connected to the pipe with use of the pipe joint member.
Pipes having a pipe joint member attached thereto are already known. The peripheral wall of such a pipe includes a flat portion formed by locally pressing the peripheral wall inward and having a hole. The pipe joint member has an outward flange at an intermediate portion of its length, and a tubular portion positioned beyond the outward flange toward one end of the member and having its outer end inserted in the hole in the peripheral wall of the pipe. The outward flange of the joint member is brazed to the outer surface of the flat portion of the pipe with a brazing ring fitted around the tubular portion of the joint member and positioned outside the pipe. The brazing ring is made of a brazing sheet including a cladding of brazing material over each of its opposite surfaces. To connect the joint member to the pipe, one surface of the ring is joined to the outward flange, and the other surface thereof to the outer surface of the pipe flat portion.
However, the conventional pipe having the pipe joint member attached thereto has the problem that it is cumbersome to form the flat portion on the pipe. Further since the flat portion is formed by locally projecting the peripheral wall of the pipe inward, another problem is encountered in that the flow of fluid through the pipe involves a great pressure loss due to the projected portion.